Simply put, we make stuff…
here, in London,
Ontario.
Look around: it’s an incredible world where one can buy a cheap ‘custom’ kitchen built a full day’s flight away by people who are paid less in a week than you might spend on a cup of coffee.
That’s great, right?
Look further: we’ve entered a time of global efficiencies and scales where lucrative and seemingly inert professions can now be broken into components and outsourced to low bidders in countries on the other side of the planet because often all that really matters is the data and not the ‘face-time’.
Yet furniture and cabinets are solid, real goods which need to be designed, built, delivered, adjusted and installed by real people.
Cost vs. beneficial processes – what really matters?
Community: there’s comfort in knowing the person who designed and built your stuff and there’s gotta-be security in knowing your neighbours nearby are gainfully employed in safe workplaces.
Price competition is nothing new in our sphere – we’ve been up against big, highly automated manufacturers and emerging – world craft-shops for years, but the truth behind the apparent savings rarely stands up to scrutiny: after paying a lower initial price the buyer often looks after delivery, installation, problem solving, warranty, and is frequently left with a product which falls short.
Our model is effective BECAUSE we don’t outsource – we design, and build our stuff ourselves in a small shop with a small number of dedicated craftspeople. We deliver and install ourselves and we still build our own doors and drawers; we buy locally manufactured supplies wherever possible and we buy from local suppliers. We even harvest our own lumber and perform acts of urban salvage when it’s correct to do so – just like they did in your great- grandparents’ day when people still gardened and the icebox in your kitchen was a seasonal thing.
And we train apprentices to ensure the next generation has the skills they’ll need to continue the work when no one else remembers how.
We are a business that thinks about the future and which treats its people, its environment, its ideas, its product, its suppliers and its clients on a sustainable, human level.
For us real value is seen in the product AND is experienced in the process.
The world is changing daily – have an impact, be part of the process – have something made just for you!